{"id":294262,"date":"2024-01-08T18:17:11","date_gmt":"2024-01-08T17:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=294262"},"modified":"2024-01-08T18:17:13","modified_gmt":"2024-01-08T17:17:13","slug":"shift-to-renewable-energy-would-make-economic-growth-impossible-says-expert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=294262","title":{"rendered":"Shift to renewable energy would make economic growth impossible, says expert"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Economic growth as we know it is impossible if governments shift to 100 per cent renewable energy, a renowned French climatologist has said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jean-Marc Jancovici<\/a>, the author of World Without End, the graphic novel on climate change which has sold nearly a million copies in France, said that wind, solar and hydroelectric power offer no miracle solution and \u201cwill not allow us to maintain today\u2019s modern industrial world\u201d. The Telegraph<\/a> has the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said: \u201cGlobalisation is basically ships, trucks, planes and computers, and all this relies on fossil fuels. The idea that we can keep all that in a world with only renewable energies is a bold assumption and I don\u2019t believe that such a shift is compatible with maintaining growth in physical economic output.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also an unproven assumption to claim that renewable energy will remain cheap in a world with only renewable energy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Controversially for many greens, Mr Jancovici argues that nuclear power is an effective way to soften the blow with an \u201cemergency parachute\u201d to reduce the risk of \u201csocial collapse\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nuclear power has seen a widespread return to favour after years in the doldrums since the Fukushima disaster<\/a>. Emmanuel Macron<\/a>, the French president, recently announced his intention to build another six next-generation EPR reactors to add to France\u2019s vast fleet of 58.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At\u00a0Cop28<\/a>, a group of 22 countries pledged to triple nuclear capacity by 2050.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Jancovici said this was doable but would \u201cnot itself save the industrial world\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tripling capacity means \u201cgoing from 2 per cent of the final energy that we use to 6 per cent globally,\u201d he said, adding: \u201cIt\u2019s a good idea but will not spare us from having to make tremendous efforts on decreasing energy use.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given all that, he said he had sympathy for politicians such as Mr Macron and Rishi Sunak<\/a> who continue to plug \u201cgreen growth\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said: \u201cThey can\u2019t really promise anything else because they have no alternative. France, like the UK, has no plan B for a world in structural recession. How do you manage the budget? How do you manage pensions?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs we are not equipped to face that situation, it\u2019s pretty logical and human to say that it won\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The world will have to \u201cget rid of India starting next year\u201d if the planet is to stick to global warming targets, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Jancovici, 61, a charismatic climatologist who pioneered the carbon footprint concept in France and sits on a climate commission advising the government, has a habit of dropping bombshells.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long-haul flights<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to his assessment, individuals can afford to take only four long-haul flights per lifetime to achieve carbon cuts. Even he was surprised when 41 per cent of the French said they would consider respecting such a rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe probability of keeping to the 1.5 degrees is zero unless a comet hits the earth or there is all-out nuclear war, or a new pandemic more harmful than Covid,\u201d he said, scoffing at suggestions that the latest \u201chistoric\u201d Cop28 climate deal was a game changer. It offered nothing legally binding as \u201cthere is no boss of the world\u201d to enforce pledges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s simple maths, said the professor. \u201cTo respect the 1.5 objective, global emissions must start decreasing by 7 to 8 per cent per year right away,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSeven per cent is India\u2019s share of world emissions. So for the plan to work, India\u2019s emissions would have to disappear next year. In year two, two-thirds of Europe\u2019s need to go. That\u2019s the rate at which things must evolve. Even for two degrees, we would need an extra Covid each year to stay on track.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy best guess is that as we are animals, we trust what our senses tell us. And our senses will tell us that the situation is critical once it is too late.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Jancovici, an avid mountaineer, is remarkably upbeat given his assertion that the world is about to end. He said: \u201cSince the first oil shocks in 1974, we have hoped that significant growth would resume. It never did so we have piled up debt for the past 50 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn Europe, we are already on a downward path regarding the physical economy. So when Mr Macron or Mr Sunak says that growth will resume, in real terms, it has been waning since 2007 in Europe as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the full story here<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Economic growth as we know it is impossible if governments shift to 100 per cent renewable energy, a renowned French climatologist has said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":294267,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Economic growth as we know it is impossible if governments shift to 100 per cent renewable energy, a renowned French climatologist has said.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818260,691820955,691818087,691826080,691819094],"class_list":{"0":"post-294262","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-cop28","9":"tag-economic-growth","10":"tag-global-warming","11":"tag-jean-marc-jancovici","12":"tag-renewable-green-energy","14":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/OIG-71.jpeg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1eya","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":281473,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=281473","url_meta":{"origin":294262,"position":0},"title":"Great Travel Reset: Poll: 41% of French population favors restricting EVERYONE to ONLY 4 airplane flights in their ENTIRE LIFE to \u2018fight against global warming\u2019","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"02\/10\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"From CLIMATE DEPOT Consumer Science & Analytics (CSA): (Via Google translate)\u00a0Engineer Jean-Marc Jancovici, an expert on climate change, once again called for drastically limiting plane travel, and declared the need to establish a quota of 4 flights per person in a lifetime... 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